A recent study in Britain has found some startling results regarding how the public views murder victims. Here is part of the breakdown:
One in three people think that if the victim disagreed with things that the murderer said, and debated with them, that they were at least partially responsible for being murdered.
About the same proportion of people think that victims are partially or wholly responsible for being murdered if they are drunk.
More than a quarter believe victims are responsible if they wear clothing that hints at violence, such as camouflage jackets or trousers, or jackboots.
Nearly 15% of respondents thought a victim would be partly responsible for being murdered if he or she was known to take part in boxing, wrestling or kick-boxing as a hobby; and 8% thought that this would make a victim totally responsible.
OK, I'm lying - these statistics aren't true. I made them up. What a relief; because if they were true, they would be deeply disturbing, painting an unflattering, backward image of society's attitudes to those people who, through no fault of their own, end up stripped of their human rights by violent predators. Now take a look at this Guardian article detailing the results of a recent Amnesty International report on rape. I don't see any difference and am truly disgusted. We all know that there is the occasional sociopath out there who holds views like this. Heck, some of them have blogs. But the sheer magnitudes of the numbers here amaze me, particularly since there doesn't seem to be a marked difference between the responses of men and women to the survey questions. I don't know what's wrong with people, but it's serious!
